The Long Way Around
by Ms.TamborineMan
Summary: Following a vague order to a vague part of the galaxy, Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet to nogotiate a peace treaty between it and a warring neighbor planet. On the planet, an explosion occurs, leaving Kirk severely injured. Worried about his Captain, Spock accepts command and discovers a shocking revelation...not only about the explosion but of possible planetary warfare.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"It's very quiet, don't you think, Spock?"

Spock listened carefully to his surroundings. Bugs chirped and chittered from the arms of the dense green forest surrounding them. But other than that, there was nothing.

"It is very strange, Captain," Spock answered. Especially since the only reason why ther were on Alyssan was to discuss a peace trety between it and another neighbor planet, Samalis. They had been sent by Star Fleet on a very obscure order to an equally obscure section of the galaxy. Without further directions, they simply followed their orders. Somehow, Spock had been expecting a welcoming comitee. But there was no one here, excepting his Captain and himself, of course.

"How odd." Kirk said. "They told us to meet them at these coordinates...but there's nobody here."

"Perhaps they were off." Spock suggested.

"Perhaps," Kirk replied, sounding doubtful. "Anyway, let's find this town. We're supposed to be close."

The two began walking, looking up to the treetops. The Alyssians were tree people, and much of the planet's land was covered with trees. A large chunk of this greenry had been destroyed, however, by Samalis's nuclear warheads.

Soon, they came to a very distinct path. Kirk glanced at Spock before leading the way.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Kirk asked. He looked up to the canopy above, at the light filtering down through the dense green leaves and, amazingly, catching in Kirk's hazel eyes, his dirty blonde hair.

"Indeed." he answered. At this, the Captain smiled.

Wordlessly, they continued on. For some while, neither said a anything, eyes focused on the treetops. Spcok became quite distracted, and so was unable to immediately pick up on a very disturbing fact.

The bugs had stopped chirping.

A sense of foreboding knotted itself into his mind.

"Captain..." he began, but by then, it was too late.

_BOOM!_

Spock felt himself being flung backwards. He tried to buffer his fall with his arms, but failed and landed hard on his spine. For a while, he was disoriented, unable to see, unable to move, unable to hear over the loudness of the ringing in his ears.

Images danced across his vision. Ash, everywhere. Fire, smoldering where the dirt had once been. Painfully, he sat up. He put a hand to pounding forehead, and, finding it wet, held it in front of his eyes. A dark green painted the tips of his fingers.

The realization brought him back to attention. Slowly, he began to run through what had happened. It was quiet. He had called to the Captain...

Just how far had he been ahead?

Ears still ringing but able to see clearly, Spock stood up.

"Jim?" he called through his dizziness. "Jim, can you hear me?"

"Spock..."

The voice was very strained. Alarmed, Spock approached it as quickly as he could. Soon he became dizzy again and was forced to stop. "Jim?" he called out again.

This time there was no answer.

"Jim?" he tried once more. But this time, he didn't need an answer. If he hadn't looked down, the Vulcan first officer would have tripped over him.

His captain was unconsious, lying sideways in a pile of ash stained the color of his own blood.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Spock dropped to his knees. He ran a hand over Jim's forehead, and finding no blood there, moved to his pulse to check for a pulse. It was not only there but was also very strong, almost too strong, too fast. Fast enough for his Captain to go into shock.

Quickly, Spock accessed the situation. He had many cuts and scrapes, but they were superficial. His eyes travelled further down his body to locate the source of all the blood.

Or what was left of it. Covered in deep crimson, he couldn't tell for certain if they were still attached.

Struck into sudden action by how dire the situation was, Spock stripped off his shirt and tried to stop the blood. Quickly it soaked through, and Spock realized that he'd have to do something better than that. He looked around, searching, but found nothing. Finally, he whipped out his communicator, fumbling to get it open.

"Spock to Enterprise." he said. "Spock to Enterprise, come in." He was just about to repeat himself when he got an answer.

"Scott here. Go ahead."

"Transfer me over to Dr. McCoy."

"Acknowledged."

"Immediately." Spock said, voice strained. He looked to his Captain. "J..."

"Spock? This is McCoy," came the doctor's grumbling voice from over the communicator. "What's going on?"

"I need you and two paramedics down immediately with a stretcher." Spock said quickly. "Medical emergency."

"Spock, what's going on?" McCoy repeated, firmly this time.

"There has been an explosion." Spock answered. "The Captain is severely injured."

"I'll be right down."

* * *

"Oh my God" were the first words out of Dr. McCoy's mouth. Then: "Spock, outta the way. Jones, hand me the scissors."

Spock moved away. McCoy knelt down and began cutting through the Captain's pants. Kirk, unconscious until now, began to whimper, soon outright screaming.

"God Damn it!" McCoy shouted. "Give him a shot!"

One of the paramedics rushed over, punching the syringe into his arm. Immediately, the Captain calmed down.

"Bones," he murmured, eyes wide open. "Spock. Spock, where are you?"

"Right here, Captain." he replied.

"Take my hand," he muttered, raising an arm weakly. Stepping over, Spock knelt down, ignored his physical Vulcan standards, and took it.

"What happened?" Kirk asked. "What's going on?"

"There was an explosion," Spock said. "You were...injured."

"You're bleeding..." Jim said. "You need medical attention." His gaze turned to McCoy. "How bad is it, Bones?"

"It's..." a long pause. "Not that bad."

"Bones. Spock. He needs..." before he could finish the thought, his eyes were closed again. Within a few seconds, he was screaming again.

"Get him on the stretcher!" the doctor barked. "Now! No time to waste!"

McCoy stood up and went over to Spock. "Spock," he said, "This is bad. Really bad."

"I'm aware of that, doctor."

"No, I don't think you are." McCoy growled. "I'm going to have to put some heavy hardware in both of those legs. I might have to amputate both of them!"

Slowly, Spock withdrew his hand from Jim's. "Is there no other solution?" he asked.

He shook his head.

* * *

They all beamed back up, rushing into Sick Bay.

"Jones, Whitiker, put him over there. Spock, right here." McCoy said, slapping a medical bed. "I'm getting my surgical supplies. We start immediately. Chapel, treat Mr. Spock."

"Doctor," Spock began, "I do not need-"

"To hell you don't!" yelled McCoy. "Sit down and shut up!"

Knowing that it would be futile to argue with the doctor, he sat down. "Leonard. What are you going to..."

"Jones, where the hell did you go?! Who has my gloves?! Someone get this curtain up!"

* * *

Christine Chapel ran her hand over his arm. "Oh my," she said. "You got banged up, didn't you?"

"Affirmative," Spock answered, though distracted. McCoy had pulled a curtain from the ceiling so that he could do the operation on Kirk, but he could still hear him on the other side, talking to the two other paramedics in muffled voices.

"...nd me the scalpel."

"...lpel."

"Let's see about that gash on your head, shall we?" Chapel said. She pulled out a wipe and scrubbed his forehead with alcohol. Spock dug his fingers into the side of the mattress, trying to distract himself. He should be over there. But instead he was over here, getting treated for minor wounds, while he did not even know what McCoy was doing to Jim.

Startled by the sudden illogical turn in his train of thought, Spock pushed it away, choosing instead to prioritize all that he needed to do from here. Get back up to the Bridge. Contact Alyssan. Report what had happened. He did not know whether the bomb was meant for them, or who had planted it, but he was going to find out.


End file.
